Decorated bureaucrat Tim Marney dumped as Co-ordinator General in second Government snub

Tim Marney has been dumped as the State’s chief green-tape slasher, in what is understood to be an earlier than expected departure from the recently announced role. Mr Marney, a former Under Treasurer under both Liberal and Labor governments, was appointed to the role of interim Co-ordinator-General earlier this year, as part of sweeping environmental approval reforms. In the role, to which he was appointed to in February, Mr Marney headed up a specially created unit within the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation charged with guiding major projects through complex approvals processes But The West can reveal he has now left the role of Co-ordinator General within JTSI, and it is understood the departure has come sooner than expected by stakeholders, with the belief no one can be appointed permanently to the position in the lead-up to the State Election. A Departmental spokesman said Mr Marney completed a six-month contract last month. In February, Premier Roger Cook said it would be Mr Marney’s job to “break down silos in Government” and help major job-creating projects navigate major departments, including JTSI. Mr Marney, a respected senior government figure, left the role as the State’s top number-cruncher in 2014 to become the Mental Health Commissioner. The dumping is Mr Marney’s second in a little over a year, after he was dropped from leading the development of a new trauma-informed model of care for detainees at Banksia Hill Detention Centre. He was appointed by the McGowan Government last year to embed that model of care into the juvenile justice system, saying at the time the work was too important to “just deliver a report and then walk away” and that he “really wanted to be part of seeing it through”. But it was just six months later when new Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia opted against extending Mr Marney’s contract attracted headlines. Mr Papalia insisted the short bedding down period had always been the intention of the appointment. Mr Marney never commented publicly on the issue.